The vinyl resurgence shows no sign of slowing, so here's a great budget turntable for your newly thrifted LPs.

May 29, 2009

A very young Rolf Harris recorded this exuberant Stylophone demo record in the late sixties. It's amusing to hear him marvel over a virtually unplayable little instrument that sounds suspiciously like a tuned duck fart. Of course, kids love fart sounds, which ensured massive popularity throughout most of the known universe.

The Stylophone fad didn't last long after parents discovered the bloody thing didn't even have a volume control. Upon being woken by electrofarts several weekends in a row, fathers throughout Britain started a grassroots campaign to smash and hide the buzzy little boxes when their little darlings were otherwise occupied with matches and the neighbour's Persian kitty.

Luckily for us, a couple of dads gave their Stylos to the drug-addled musicians living in the squat across the street. These future pop stars managed to tease a few tuneful bleeps out of their newfound toys, ensuring an irrational cult following that lasted over three decades.

Things reached such a fever pitch that Ben Jarvis - son of one of the original inventors - released an updated version in 2007. He learned from his father's mistakes and incorporated a volume control, headphone jack and two additional tones which I affectionately call 'helium duck' and 'deep duck.'

I'm counting on one of you to incorporate the Stylophone into 2010's biggest hit single, ensuring that decades of future music lovers continue to covet this cheerful electrobleep machine.

He says, "This modem was given to me around 1989 by the widow of a retired IBM engineer. Even better than seeing it in a museum, I decide to hook the trusty Model A up and make it talk to something. After some trial and error, I manage to get it to talk to a terminal server at work and use it to connect to a linux box. It's ALIVE! So, 45 years after it's creation, this antique modem gets to send data to and from the modern Internet."

Frankie from HobbyMedia came across these arcanely beautiful miniature recreations of 1980s SEGA arcade cabinets at the Shizuoka Hobby Show.

The Sega Taikan Game Collection includes reproductions of five classic arcade titles: Space Harrier, Super Hang-On, Outrun, Thunderblade and Afterburner. Available in August wherever Organic (Kaiyodo) models are sold. Follow the link for more ridiculously cute shots...

May 26, 2009

Here's your chance to own a piece of cinematic history - the location where Ferris Bueller's pal Cameron accidentally sent his father's prized Ferrari plunging through a picturesque plate glass window into the ravine below.

"The Ben Rose Home - site of the famous movie "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." Cantilevered over the ravine, these two steel and glass buildings -
which can never be duplicated - have incredible vistas of the
surrounding woods. This is a unique property designed by A. James
Speyer and David Haid, both notable architects of the 20th Century."

These magnificent examples of mid-century minimalism (that's an exterior shot of the garage on the left) can be yours for only $2,300,000, or $433.96 per square foot.

BBG just posted some nice photos of Colossus, the code-breaking computer that cracked the German Lorenz ciphers during World War II. It was the first digital programmable electronic computer, developed in complete secrecy by Post Office engineer Tommy Flowers.

Ten of these massive machines were operational by the end of the war, and several remained in service at GCHQ until the late 1950s. What they were used for during the cold war remains a mystery. All of the others were destroyed and the design would have been lost forever if it weren't for the efforts of a team led by Tony Sale, who reconstructed the machine you see here based on the few scraps of information that had not been destroyed after the war.

The fully operational reconstruction is on display at Bletchley Park in Milton Keynes.

May 25, 2009

Whenever someone who has never seen the Thunderbirds asks me to explain who and what they are, I say that they are bad-ass puppets who shoot guns, bleed, and smoke a lot. I also explain that while intended for children, the stringed adventures of the Thunderbirds always held a fascination for adults too. Perhaps that explains these collectible cigar bands from 1968 featuring photos of the show's characters and their magnificent flying machines.

According to accounts on cigar band collector websites, the hobby peaked in the early decades of the 20th century, before cigarettes became the smoke of choice for most people. Manufacturers continued to produce collectible cigar bands, sort of like having a bubble gum card wrapped around your favorite blunt. Still, it's just odd to have the very adult pastime of smoking promoting a children's program. Though I must admit, I love the image of a young British lad puffing a cigar while reading the latest issue of Gerry Anderson's TV21.

The David White Stereo Realist. It's a name better suited to an experimental jazz trio than a camera. Still, approximately 250,000 of these unusual 35mm cameras were manufactured from 1947-1971. Its 22 x 23mm image format became the standard for stereo slides and allows you to snap 19 stereo pairs on a standard 24 exposure film.

Why are there three lenses, you ask? The middle one is used for image framing and focusing, while the two outer lenses feature synchronized shutters that capture a pair of images onto the film. The big problem with having three lenses is that focusing has the potential to be a wild and imprecise panic. The Stereo Realist elegantly solved this problem by moving the film plane back and forth while leaving the lenses stationary.

The resulting 3D slides were viewed using a compact handheld Bakelite viewer that resembled a high-end ViewMaster. The process was elegant and simple.

Amazingly, this camera remained on the market for almost a quarter century with only several relatively minor revisions. These days, companies feel the need to pump out dozens of virtually identical camera models annually. Entire product ranges often share the same image processor and electronics with certain features disabled or crippled in lower-end devices. Perhaps the time has come for manufacturers to dramatically trim product lines and refocus on features and quality.

May 22, 2009

High-end Swiss watchmaker Romain Jerome has crafted a range of stunningly pretentious Titanic-DNA watches that feature dials blackened with coal from the holds of the Titanic.

The 46mm case of the Titanic-DNA - rusted steel T-oxy III incorporates oxidized and stabilized steel along with titanium and ceramic. The movement is a C22RJ51 Concepto by Jacquet and the face is protected by a scratch-resistant double-coated sapphire window. It's water resistant to 5 Atmospheres and and comes with either rubber or crocodile strap. This is a limited edition of 2012 pieces, price available on request.

German toymaker Tucher + Walther was founded in 1977 by Elisabeth Walther and Bernhard Tucher in Nurnberg. The city has a long history of manufacturing tin toys, and the company got its start by supplying an assortment of vintage toys to collectors.

However, the old toys often required painstaking repair and eventually Tucher + Walther started creating their own limited edition designs. To attract attention at their first toy fair, they created a whimsical Zeppelin demonstration model that generated far more interest than the toys they initially sought to sell. In honor of their early roots, they still sell clockwork Zeppelins today.

The company dreams up as many as ten fanciful clockwork and steam powered toys each year. Each starts life as a sheet of tin plate, which is carefully cut and machined before being hand soldered and painted. These fanciful designs are definitely not intended for kids and carry price tags of up to $1,495 for an exotic Steam Dragon.

Voyage To The Moon [right] is an outrageously complicated $649.95 steam-powered rocket ship awaiting its first interstellar trip. It incorporates a Wilesco stationary steam engine that drives an assortment of flywheel-driven spinners.

May 21, 2009

The French Beaulieu 6008 S is one of the best Super 8 cameras ever made. These high-end devices were manufactured from 1979 -1983, right at the end of the Super 8 era. This particular unit includes a tack-sharp Schneider Kreuznach f/1.4 6-70mm zoom lens, as equipped from the factory.

The auction includes the original charger (220V European plug), earphone, box and manual remote. Of course, the best thing about Beaulieu cameras (apart from their exceptional image quality) is that professional service is still available.

My conclusion? This camera looks nice and might sell for less than its worth because of the glitchy time-lapse circuit.

The Retro Adapter by Komodo lets you use NES, SNES and Nintendo 64 controllers with Wii Virtual Console games. The little device includes a single port for each controller type and connects to the Wii using one of the GameCube ports. I already own a tangled heap of vintage controllers and can't wait to play my Virtual Console titles the authentic way. Available mid-June for around $20.

May 20, 2009

RT forum member mods recently started a thread about the Holy Grail for a Retro Video Game collector. He mentioned Nintendo's rare World Championships 1990 Gold Cartridge, which would fetch thousands on the open market.

My Holy Grail would be an Entex Adventure Vision with all four game carts. Around 50,000 of them were made in 1981/1982 and I'm ashamed to admit I've never actually seen one running. The electromechanical screen is a 150 x 40 grid of red LEDs created using a spinning mirror that casts a flickering, wobbly image at only 15 frames per second. The games included surprisingly enjoyable ports of Defender, Super Cobra, Space Force and Turtles.

Follow the jump for a few more snapshots taken by Dave at the brilliant Game Over retro gaming shop in Amsterdam.

The $199.99 Timex Sinclair 2068 was the fourth and final Sinclair-designed machine marketed in the USA. Released in late 1983, it didn't meet sales forecasts and was quickly discontinued. Part of the problem was that the machine wasn't 100% compatible with the incredibly popular Sinclair ZX Spectrum (sold as the Timex Sinclair 2048 in the US).

The TS 2068 was an extended version of the popular British ZX Spectrum. In addition to a 3.5 MHz Zilog Z80 processor and larger 48K RAM & 24K ROM, the engineers added a General Instrument AY-3-8912 sound chip (later included in the ZX Spectrum+ 128K, although with imcompatible addressing ), dual joystick ports, and an awkwardly sized cartridge port to the right of the keyboard for quick loading ROM programs and games (this made lots of sense in the early 1980s world of cassette-based storage). There were also a couple of additional video modes and some additional BASIC language commands. Great on paper, but not so great when your favorite Speccy game didn't run.

The incompatibility problem was largely solved by the introduction of Lemon Soft's Magic Emulator cartridge, which did a great job of smoothing the differences between the ZX Spectrum and this new supercharged version. Sadly, it really didn't matter because the machine ceased production after approximately 80,000 units rolled off the production line.

A slightly different version of this machine - the Timex Computer 2068 - remained in production in Portugal until 1989, making it the longest lived Sinclair model. The TC 2068 included PAL video and a Spectrum expansion bus port. Because Timex Portugal was only allowed to market their product outside Sinclair's market area, they also produced the Polish Unipolbrit Komputer 2086. [photo by Facundo A. Fernández / flickr]

May 19, 2009

Everyone besides Roland is calling their new AX-Synth a keytar. Roland is referring to their new baby as a "shoulder synthesizer". I've never liked the word keytar either. It invokes the idea that what we used to call "ghost" or "solo" keyboards are inherently dorky. I may be biased because as a keyboard player I've always thought they were pretty cool, even though there have only ever been a dozen or so commercial models - a clear indicator of the lack of popularity of the keytar form factor.

The new Roland updates 2002's AX-7 model (and 1991's AX-1 before that) by including a lot more controls, USB style MIDI, and - here's the biggie - onboard sounds. This is pretty unusual as most keytars are MIDI controllers only, relying on an attached sound source. It's cool to be able to pick up the AX-Synth and start playing right away, though it makes me wish they'd gone that extra Casio step and included an on-board speaker.

As a professed keytar fan (I've still got my Casio AZ-1 as proof!), why am I not running out to get one? I'll have to wait and see if they release anything a little less iPod. Seriously, does every advanced piece of electronics have to be toilet porcelain white? Roland's other keytars were a glorious red. When the keyboardist creeps out from behind his racks of gear, he's doing it to get noticed with a hot red red axe, people.

The main reason I really won't be adding the Roland to my arsenal is the exorbitant price. The AX-Synth looks like it'll command over a thousand dollars US which is a lot of money for a keytar or a shoulder synthesizer or whatever they want to call it. I guess that Roland isn't counting on selling too many, or they feel that anyone extraordinary enough to want to play the most modern keytar ever is also happy to pay an extraordinary price as well.

May 18, 2009

Welcome to the latest installment of Retro Thing TV. In this episode we review Crosley's iJuke, a cute miniature jukebox powered by your iPod. After you check out the review, you can also check out the deal I found on the iJuke at Amazon.